BNT: Fujitsu Racing Team Manfeild Park summary

Hamilton driver Kayne Scott had plenty of reason to feel satisfied after Round 5 of the 2010/2011 BNT V8s Championship at Manfeild Park this weekend.

Scott scored his third pole position of the season in Saturdays top ten shootout and then finished second overall for the round in the Fujitsu Falcon. After securing a lap record at the last round at Timaru he almost repeated the feat at Manfeild, missing the mark at the 3.03 kilometre Feilding circuit by less than a tenth of a second. His efforts also saw him rise back to third in the championship points and well within reach of those ahead.

The weekend was particularly pleasing for Scott as the previous round had ended with the Fujitsu Falcon badly damaged. However after an amazing amount of work from a lot of people the car was not only ready for Manfeild three weeks later but it was setting the pace.

Kayne was the fastest in both of Saturdays test sessions and then comfortably cruised through the first part of qualifying to make the top ten shootout. His shootout lap was impressive, .550 of a second quicker than second fastest qualifier Tim Edgell.

A good start from pole position in the opening race on Sunday morning saw Scott and the Fujitsu Falcon into the lead, one they would retain from start to finish. It was an impressive performance and more of the same looked on the cards as Kayne lined up on pole position for the second race just a short time later. However this time it was Edgell who made the best start. Scott shadowed him for lap after lap, closing in relentlessly under braking. Edgell hung on to win, but only just, the gap at the finish .368 of a second.

Kayne was in the familiar position of needing to find his way through the traffic in the reverse grid race and he set about his work climbing into the top ten. However the Fujitsu Falcon began emitting smoke, raising concerns whether it would make the finish. The problem was the power steering fluid which was leaking onto the exhaust. It was also leaking onto the tyres giving Kayne an exciting ride as well as a physically tiring one. Nevertheless the Fujitsu Falcon made the chequered flag in tenth position. The results over the three races sealing second place for Scott.

Kayne was happy with another good round as he reflected in the team transporter after the race. "It was great. We had good speed straight out of the truck. It was an amazing turnaround after Timaru. You think you've got plenty of time but you have to travel back to base and then back to the next round. That doesn't leave a whole heap of time to repair the damage we sustained down there."

Kayne explains the fact the Fujitsu Falcon was quick immediately this way. "We have found a nice little place with the car. It's working for us. This season we are looking hard at what to do before we get to a meeting. Craig Russell is doing a fantastic job on that homework. It was an area we identified for improvement at the end of last season."

Kayne was elated after dominating pole postion at three of the five meetings to date. "We just missed the lap record too."

Looking at the three races he said, "we had speed early in race one. I think we had the better car. The second race. Tim just did a better job at the start. Under brakes I was catching up four or five car lengths. In the reverse grid race I was cautious early. Tyres and brakes were going to be important and I was confident in the car. I didn't start the way I wanted. Then I could feel the front end losing grip and that turned out to be the power steering fluid on the tyres. It was also going onto the exhaust. It made the car feel vague, awkward, not nice. It was even tough just to track down the straight."

Overall Kayne described the weekend as "bittersweet." "We had the pace to do damage to the points." After Timaru Kayne had described the round as "the one that got away" but he said this weekend was even moreso. "However it was a great result, a fantastic effort from the whole team though. It was special too as it was the home round for Fujitsu. They had two hundred people in attendance and they gave us amazing support. It was great to see them all cheering us on."

The penultimate round of the championship takes place at the Taupo Motorsport Park in one month - from 11-13 March.

The team are pleased to retain their major sponsors Fujitsu and Altherm for the 2010/2011 season as well as other returning sponsors Trade Tools, Castrol, PPG and CRC. Welcome newcomers to the team this year are Hansen, Hirepool, South Auckland Ford, InterCity, Exedy, Century Yuasa, BOC Gases, King Springs and TL Print.